Methods of lithium recovery from geothermal water: Current status, problems, and development prospects
Abstract
With the rapid development of lithium-based new energy industries worldwide, traditional lithium extraction technologies face resource scarcity, environmental pollution, and high energy consumption, calling for the exploration of more sustainable alternatives. Based on this, geothermal brine resources have played an important role in lithium exploration due to the development of efficient recovery technologies. This paper establishes a general framework for evaluating lithium extraction technology from geothermal resources, including resource characteristics, development advantages, technology comparisons, and technology synergies. It discusses the global lithium resources, the advantages and key technologies of extracting lithium from geothermal resources, the key challenges in the technology, and the future. The key technologies include evaporation-crystallization, chemical precipitation, adsorption, solvent extraction, electrochemical, and membrane separation. Of these, membrane technology, especially forward osmosis, has become an important research hotspot. The development of geothermal lithium technology has become an important direction for the future, providing important guidance for the development of geothermal resources and the theory of the green transition in the global new energy industry.